Of all the revolutions, the bread one is my favorite. No guillotines with heads dropping in baskets, nobody losing their estate if they were on the “wrong” side, and no marching around singing the songs of the people. It’s bread. Everyone likes good bread.
And this revolution is happening right now. Go online and type #realbread or #realsourdough and you’ll see what I mean.
Here in the United States, the real bread movement got a big push from Chad Robertson and Elisabeth Prueitt from the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco.
They’ve had a huge influence on what people want in a loaf, and we’re not any different. We have their cookbooks scattered all over our bakery.
Their role got made official when new York Times food columnist Mark Bittman named it his favorite bakery in the country. They’ve done a lot for the sourdough community and for baking in general.
The United Kingdom seems to be going for the leader of the revolution. We’ve been impressed with the Real Bread Campaign that, among other things, teaches children the “life of a loaf begins in a field, not a factory.”
What makes this movement so fascinating is the public demand for bread-making to go backward instead of jockeying towards something new. Long fermented sourdough made from non-dwarf, non-genetically modified wheat.
Basically, it’s like eating bread from the 1700s.
It’s good for you. Delicious. Old school.
And I think we can all agree that bread that tastes better and is better for you is the best solution.
And there’s no need to get violent about it.
Author: Michelle Hubbard is a graduate of Brigham Young University with an English degree and an editing minor. She won Leading Edge’s “Best First Chapter” award and later joined the publication as a slush reader and editor. After attending the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers conference in Sandy, Utah, she became a volunteer and this June will be her ninth year as an assistant. She is also a writing officer for Misha Collin’s charity Random Acts. A draft of her middle-grade novel, Oscar and the Ghosts of Paris, placed second with the Utah Arts Council. She lives in Pleasant Grove with her husband, sister, two children, and far too many pets
Michelle, you wrote: “Basically, it’s like eating bread from the 1700s.” In August last year, I was doing some research about Isreal in 700 BC and pulled this together: https://searchisaiah.org/top-questions/isaiah-diet/ suggesting it might just go back 2000 or more years. So when you take that next bite of sourdough, realize the bacteria and wild yeast in that bread has a very long genealogy.;-)